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What Hamas really wants

By Dick Lentz

Posted:
12/19/2012 03:33:00 PM MST

Updated:
12/19/2012 03:33:32 PM MST

It's been said that if you repeat a lie long enough, people will eventually believe it. When it comes to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the lie that keeps getting repeated is that all Hamas wants is a little more land and to be freed from those they consider occupiers of that land. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hamas really wants to possess the entire land of Israel, including areas even the United Nations says belongs to the Jews.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said this at a recent rally in the Gaza Strip: "Palestine is ours from the river to the sea, from the south to the north. There will be no concession on an inch of the land. We will never recognize the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation and therefore there is no legitimacy for Israel, no matter how long it will take." The "occupation" Khaled is referring to is the all of Israel, not just the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He and those who support Hamas don't want Israel to keep its hands off just Gaza and the West Bank. They want every inch of the land returned to its "rightful" owners, which they consider to be the Palestinians.

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Hamas' desire to take over all of Israel is supported by Hezbollah, Syria and Iran and reinforced by their words and weapons. It is also consistent with the charter of Hamas. Here are some statements that come from that charter:

"The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) erupted ... for the purpose of liberating Palestine. For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it needs all the loyal efforts we can wield ... until the enemies are defeated and Allah's victory prevails." (Introduction to Charter of Hamas, 1988).

"The Islamic Resistance Movement ... has raised the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors in order to extricate the country and the people from the (oppressors') desecration, filth and evil." (Article 3)

"The Islamic Resistance Movement ... strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine." (Article 6)

"Nothing is loftier or deeper in Nationalism than waging Jihad against the enemy and confronting him when he sets foot on the land of the Muslims." (Article 12)

"(Peace) initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement." (Article 13)

Elsewhere in their charter, Hamas describes Jews as "a vicious, Nazi-like enemy (Article 20)," calls the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization, an acknowledged terrorist organization) "a father, a brother, a relative and a friend (Article 27)," and that "Only iron can blunt iron (Article 34)." The most incendiary words are found in Article 7, which says, "The Hamas has been looking forward to implement Allah's promise whatever time it might take ... The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!"

Those are the facts, ones that come from the mouths of those who oppose Israel and the documents that provide the basis for their objectives and the methods they use to achieve them.

Those who continue to support Hamas' point of view regarding Israel while ignoring the actual words of Khaled and those who agree with him and who fail to take into account what is explicitly stated in the Hamas charter are distorting the truth and in the process repeating lies that the enemies of Israel want us to believe. If they want to serve truth and not be part of the deception the enemy of truth is trying to get us to believe, they can start by denouncing the words, the actions and the charter of Hamas and those who continue to claim that all Hamas wants is a little more land and if given it, will live peacefully within it.

Dick Lentz lives in Niwot and is a Bible teacher at Calvary Church in Longmont. He can be reached at dickelentz@aol.com.

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